


A Perfect Vakarian-Blue Day

by KabiViolet



Series: Elizabeth Shepard [6]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Family, Fluff, Love, One Shot, Post-Game(s), Romance, Valentine's Day, bliss, happiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-15
Updated: 2014-02-15
Packaged: 2018-01-12 11:23:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1185660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KabiViolet/pseuds/KabiViolet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Valentine's Day isn't always about spending time with that special someone. Sometimes it's about so much more...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A one-shot of post-game Shakarian bliss as part of the Elizabeth Shepard, Hero Worship series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Perfect Vakarian-Blue Day

**Author's Note:**

> This is, perhaps, the fluffiest piece I've ever written in my life.
> 
> A one-shot of post-game Shakarian bliss as part of the Elizabeth Shepard, Hero Worship series. Spoilers for Hero Worship follow, however, you can still appreciate the fluffy bits even if you have not read the series.
> 
>  
> 
> As always, characters belong to BioWare, and thanks for reading!
> 
> -KabiViolet

The ride home from school was unusually quiet. Shepard kept glancing in her mirrors and checking over her shoulder, but nothing changed. All three of her children sat silently in their seats in the back of the skycar. The part that made Shepard nervous were the sideways looks she occasionally caught her two eldest tossing each other when they thought she wasn’t looking.

“How was your day, guys?” she asked tentatively.

“Fine, Mom,” Adam and Livy said in unison, cutting their words off as Ashley joined in with a small, “Fun! I love Grandpa’s house!”

But that was it. All three mouths clamped shut again, and Shepard was left to drive in silence, pondering what plot the three rugrats in her backseat were hatching.

The day had been quiet from the beginning. Garrus had taken Livia and Adam to school and dropped Ashley off at his father’s for the day. Normally, Ashley’s quiet nature was easy enough for Shepard and Garrus to manage while one or both of them worked from the home office. But today, Garrus had meetings with Victus he had to attend in person, and Shepard needed to concentrate on a new project she’d picked up to assist with diplomatic relationships between the Council and a rebel group of volus. Apparently Niftu Cal was causing quite a stir among his native people by retelling his “heroic tale of valor on Omega”, rallying a large enough group of people to cause an incident on the Presidium when they demonstrated their “power” and demanded admittance to the Council. Shepard, as someone who had briefly interacted with the volus break-out leader, was called in to calm things down.

But now the workday was over. Shepard had put the datapads and conference calls to rest and left to pick up her three children and bring them home. However, this silent ride home worried Shepard. Not only were Adam and Livy not picking at each other, but even Ashley was silent.

Adam was a relatively new addition to the family. Two years prior, when Livia, Shepard’s turian daughter, had turned seven and Ashley, Shepard’s half-prothean daughter, had turned two, Garrus and Shepard had finally completed all the paperwork to adopt their human son, who was now six. Adding a little boy to the family had definitely livened things up a bit. Most of the time, Adam and Livy got along very well and Livy loved having a little sister _and_ brother, however, the car ride home always seemed to generate arguments in the close quarters of the back seat. But for whatever reason, that wasn’t the case today.

“When will Dad be home?” Adam’s tiny six-year-old voice almost startled Shepard as she turned the last corner by their apartment.

“He has to stay late at work tonight, I’m afraid,” Shepard answered, pulling to a stop and popping open the doors. “I think he’ll be home for bedtime, but probably not for supper.”

Her little human son didn’t look at her, jumping out of his seat and running into the apartment without another look back. Shepard watched him go, hands on her hips, perplexed about his behavior. She didn’t have much time to think as Livy brushed past her quickly as well.

“We’ll be playing upstairs, Mom,” the turian girl yelled over her shoulder. “Don’t worry about us! We’ll be fine! I’ll watch Ashley for you so you can do some work.”

Shepard shook her head as she bent down to get Ashley out of her car seat. The half-prothean girl was struggling at the restraints so much that Shepard had to hold her still.

“Ash, just stop wiggling.”

“But I want to go play with Adam and Livy, Mommy.”

“You’ll get there faster if you will hold still so I can get you out of this thing.”

And just like her older brother and sister, Ashley ran off without a word into the corridor that led to the apartment. Shepard quickly followed, slightly nervous about the reasoning behind the strange behavior of her three very different children, but she soon realized her worries were for naught as she entered the apartment.

“Can I have the green one?” she heard Ashley’s voice floating down the stairs from the lounge above her as Shepard walked past the kitchen below. She crept up the stairs slowly to take a peek at what was going on, smiling as she realized that her children were simply coloring together at the “kid table” she and Garrus had acquired for the brood of Shepard-Vakarian children. She watched as Adam handed Ashley a green crayon and reached into one of the specially made table’s many drawers for a different color.

“Here,” she heard Adam say nicely to his little sister, “just give it back when you’re done.” Quietly, Shepard turned to sneak back down the stairs.

“Do you think Mom likes blue?” Adam continued, turning to Livy who was intently coloring on her own paper.

“Duh, she married Dad, didn’t she?” Livy giggled.

“Right. You can keep the green, Ash.”

Still a bit confused about why her children had been in such a rush just to color, but no longer worrying that they were up to no good, Shepard crept noiselessly back down the stairs.

_Might as well get some work done while the kids are quiet_ , she thought as she headed for the office, leaving the door slightly cracked to listen for any mischief from upstairs.

One hour passed. Then two. Shepard didn’t hear a single fight or peep from the four, six, and nine-year old upstairs, but as the clock rolled around, Shepard’s stomach growled and she put the work away for dinner. In fact, Shepard was surprised when she saw the time. The kids had been so quiet, she hadn’t noticed how quickly the minutes had passed.

Garrus usually did the cooking. He had become quite the master of both levo and dextro cuisine - or at least he was better than her, all the kids said so - but he would be late tonight.

Shepard sighed as she stood up and stretched, but when she opened the office door and stepped into the hallway, she was surprised to hear sounds coming from the kitchen. Rounding the corner, warmth flooded her chest and nostrils as she saw Garrus slaving over several pots on the stove and bending over to check something in the oven. Folding her arms across her chest, Shepard smiled and chuckled to herself, enjoying the scene.

“Well, this is a nice surprise,” she quipped. Garrus looked up with raised eyebrow plates to smile back at her.

“I was wondering when you would emerge from the den of diplomatic hell,” he teased as he reached behind him to untie the apron he always wore in the kitchen. Three pairs of different colored handprints were lovingly etched onto the cloth. Adam’s five-fingered handprints in blue paint, Livia’s three-fingered ones in gray, and Ashley’s tiny three-fingered handprints in bright green adorned the chest of the Chief Advisor to the Primarch of Palaven everytime he stepped foot in the kitchen. It was, perhaps, his most cherished accessory.

“I decided to put my own diplomatic hell away hours ago,” Garrus said as he stepped toward Shepard, wrapping  one arm around her waist and pulling her close to him.

“What’s the occasion?” she asked.

“You mean you don’t know?” Garrus said, his eyes sparkling with entertainment.

“Should I know?”

“Well, I won’t be the one to ruin the surprise. The kids have been planning this for days.”

“Oh, really? It appears that they had some help,” Shepard drawled, staring up at him from beneath her long eyelashes as she lifted one finger to trace down Garrus’ sensitive mandible, his neck, his chest. Garrus’ eyes widened and his grip tightened as Shepard’s finger moved lower and lower. “I think I know how to get you to te-”

“Mommy!”

At that moment, Ashley came bounding around the corner. Shepard jumped and quickly took her hand away from Garrus’ waistband, but not without tossing him a scolding look. He just smiled and shrugged as Shepard bent down to scoop Ashley up into her arms.

“Hi, baby,” she said, placing a kiss on the little girl’s nose.

“Are you all done working?”

“Yep, all done. And it looks like Dad’s almost finished with dinner, too.”

“Ok, put me down.” Shepard raised one eyebrow at her daughter.

“Put you down? But I just picked you up,” she said.

“But I have a job,” Ashley replied, wiggling in Shepard’s arms.

“A job? What job? Who gave you a job?”

“It’s a secret job, Mommy. I can’t tell you. Shhhh…” The half-prothean girl raised one of her three fingers and placed it in front of her mouth as she made the hushing sound.

“A secret job, hmm?” Shepard chuckled and glanced at Garrus who avoided looking at her but was still smiling as he checked the food on the stove. “Well, I wouldn’t want to ruin your secret.”

Shepard had to stifle a loud laugh as soon as Ashley was loose, because once the girl had rounded the corner and started bounding up the steps, she began yelling at the top of her lungs.

“Adam! Liv! Mom’s DOOOOOOONNNNNE! You can come down now!”

“Shhh, Ash,” came Adam’s voice over the railing.

“You’ll ruin everything,” added Livy’s scolding tones.

“What the hell is going on, Garrus? You’re in on this, too?” Shepard whispered, leaning back against the counter and crossing her arms while turning to her partner, who was now laying out a lavish feast on the table nearby. He just shook his head, refusing to utter a peep. “I don’t know how I can compete with a four year old, a six year old, and a nine year old if their _middle-aged_ father won’t help me out a bit.”

“Watch it, Shepard,” Garrus stopped as he was laying out the food to give her a hard look. “Or I won’t let you have _any_ dessert tonight. And if you think this food looks good, you have no idea what dessert looks like.”

“You do know I love dessert,” Shepard said, halting a shiver that hit her as soon as Garrus gave her that _look_ with his icy-blue eyes - the look that sent a jolt of heat to her mid-section. “I’ll be good. I promise.”

“You know,” Garrus added with another teasing smile. “It’s for the kids.”

“The things we do for our children,” Shepard said, rolling her eyes, but before she could say anything more, all three kids appeared in the kitchen, each one with a painfully wide smile. Shepard couldn’t help the matching smile that found its way to her face as she surveyed the eager little ones in front of her, all of them with hands behind their backs.

“All right, soldiers,” she said, standing straight up and watching as her children mirrored her posture, straightening their backs as if in formation. “Who wants to be the first one to tell me what all this is about? You’ve all been acting strange since I picked you up from school.”

Ashley was the first to break the silence. Her beaming face couldn’t hold back any longer.

“It’s Valentine’s Day, Mommy!” the little girl shouted as she jumped toward Shepard, a large folded piece of colored paper in her hand as she reached up for Shepard to pick her up. Out of habit, Shepard picked Ashley up in her arms. Ashley returned Shepard’s gesture by wrapping her arms around her mother’s neck. “We wanted to surprise you!”

Shepard was definitely surprised. She had completely forgotten about the traditional human holiday, normally tossing it out as a silly observance.

“Valentine’s Day?” she asked, looking at each child in turn. “Who told you it was Valentine’s Day?”

“My teacher at school,” Adam said shyly, stepping forward and handing Shepard the folded piece of paper in his hand to match Ashley’s in Shepard’s hand. “He’s human and asked me if we celebrated it, because I’m human and you’re human. I told him I didn’t know what it was…”

Shepard frowned as she saw her son’s mouth turn down for a brief moment, but as she usually did, his big sister Livy came to the rescue.

“Adam asked me what it was, and I didn’t know either,” Livy said, handing Shepard yet another folded piece of paper, which Shepard added to the collection she had accumulated, putting Ashley back on the ground so she could look at what had been given to her. “So I asked Dad. He said he could do some research and find out.”

“Your father has always been very good at his research…” Shepard said with a slow smile, inwardly laughing as she heard Garrus cough audibly from the dining table.

“Right,” Livy said in her matter-of-fact voice. “So Dad did his research and we found out that Valentine’s Day is a human holiday that you give cards and gifts to the person you love the most. And we all said we loved _you_ the most - well, you and Dad, but Dad said that since it was a human holiday, we should focus on you. So we are, and we wanted to do something nice for you, Mom.”

“We came up with a plan,” Adam said, his confidence returning as he took a step to stand closer to Shepard and next to his older sister. “Dad said he could come home from work early, and we were very good so you could get your work done. And we made you these cards. Happy Valentine’s Day!”

“And I got to play with the _glitter_!” Ashley added, jumping up and down and pointing at the paper in Shepard’s hand. Shepard looked at the three papers, which she now noticed were three homemade Valentine’s Day cards. The first, made by Ashley, was completely covered in bright green glitter, Ashley’s favorite color. The picture appeared to be one of the Presidium Park - Ashley’s favorite place - and Shepard thought she could make out what might be figures of Livia, Adam, Garrus, and Shepard. In large green crayon, it was clear that Livy had helped Ashley write a message. The use of the four-year old’s full name was a dead giveaway.

 

_“Happy Valentine’s Day, Mommy!_

_Love, Ashley Ezola Shepard-Vakarian”_

 

The second card was Livia’s. The girl had a talent for art. Recently, Livia had learned the basics of her parents’ heroics in the Reaper War while in history class, and she had painstakingly drawn a picture of their family with Garrus and Shepard in full armor.

 

_“To: My Mom, Hero of the Galaxy and Best Mom EVER_

_From: Your oldest daughter, Livia Solana Shepard-Vakarian_

_Happy Valentine’s Day! I love you!”_

 

The final card, clearly made by Adam, was completely colored in blue. Adam worshipped his father and all things blue. He had drawn a picture of the house on Palaven with all of them standing in the garden room holding hands. But even though the card had very turian themes, the message to his human mother was very clear.

 

_“To: The Best Valentine Mom_

_From: Your Valentine Son, Adam Tarquin Shepard-Vakarian_

_I love you and our family._

_Happy Valentine’s Day!”_

 

Adam had very few memories of his real parents, but sometimes those memories he did retain gave him nightmares. His sweet hugs and kisses were a reminder to Shepard of how grateful he was to have a family that loved him - and did his family ever love him. But if this slightly comical observance of Valentine’s Day taught her anything, it was that she needed to do a better job of teaching Adam about his human heritage. Growing up in a home that was just as much turian as it was human, with a half-prothean thrown in the mix, clearly made it difficult for her adopted son to know where he belonged. But what Adam’s simple card showed Shepard was that at least he knew he belonged with _them._

The combination of all three cards made Shepard’s eyes sting with tears. She crouched down on her haunches and looked lovingly into the eyes of each of her children. Reaching out, she wrapped her arms around all three of them at the same time in a giant hug.

“This is the best Valentine’s Day present I’ve ever gotten,” she whispered in their ears. “Thank you.”

But of course, Ashley wiggled free first.

“Daddy!” she said, running toward Garrus who quickly scooped her up in the air. “What did you get Mommy for Valentine’s Day?”

“Oh, I was supposed to get her something?” Garrus teased.

“Yes! How could you forget? That was the _plan_!” Ashley said, clearly frustrated with her father.

“Oh, right, right,” Garrus said as he placed Ashley in her booster seat at the table. “Well, I made dinner.”

“That’s all?” Livy said, hands on her hips. Obviously, she had inherited her mother’s attitude.

“No, that’s not all, young lady,” Garrus said, pointing to a chair for Livy to sit while giving Shepard that _look_ again. Livia obeyed and Adam followed as Garrus continued. “I know what your Mommy likes more than anything else.”

“What’s that?” Adam asked as he sat down to eat.

“Garrus, don’t you -” Shepard began, but Garrus interrupted.

“Time with the whole family all together,” he said, winking at Shepard over the heads of the kids as he pulled out Shepard’s chair next to his at the table. “So after dinner, I invited Grandma Shepard and Grandpa Vakarian over to watch the new Blasto movie.”

“BLASTOOOO!!!!” All three children shouted in unison with wide eyes.

“That’s right, but you have to eat all your vegetables to watch Blasto and eat ice cream,” Garrus ordered as he sat down at the table.

“Does Mom like Blasto?” Adam asked cautiously.

“I absolutely _love_ Blasto!” Shepard replied as she met her son’s eyes with a smile. “Your Dad and I used to watch old Blasto movies all the time. This really is a perfect Valentine’s Day.”

Adam nodded in satisfaction, but his small face looked concerned again not more than a few seconds later.

“Wait, Mom, did you get something for Dad for Valentine’s Day? My teacher said that you would.”

“Yes, your Mom has something for me for Valentine’s Day,” Garrus replied quickly as he took his first bite of dinner.

“She does?” Livy and Adam asked together.

“I do?” Shepard said, turning to Garrus beside her.

“Of course. It’s in the blue box upstairs on the bed, remember?” Garrus asked, mischief in his eyes. “You told me I would have to open it after the kids go to sleep.”

“Oh yes!” Shepard answered, that electric feeling returning to her gut. “Definitely your father’s favorite thing to do for Valentine’s Day.”

“What is it?” Ashley piped up with a mouth full of food, but Livia slammed her palm against her forehead. Garrus quickly met Shepard’s eyes with a knowing twinkle before turning to reply to Ashley’s question.

“Well, if she told you what it was now, it wouldn’t be a surprise for me later, would it?” Garrus said.

“If you just leave the table for a minute, Dad,” Ashley replied, sounding very logical in her four-year old voice, “then Mom could tell us.”

“Eat your vegetables, Ashley,” Shepard interrupted, but under her breath, she whispered to Garrus, “And what are we going to tell them tomorrow about what is in this mysterious blue box?”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Garrus teased before returning his attention to his food, but Shepard didn’t miss the low thrum of his subharmonics that reverberated through her chest as she enjoyed her own food as well.

 

********************************************************************************************************

 

The dishes were piled up in the sink. Ashley lay sprawled across Shepard’s lap. Adam had neatly perched himself in between both Shepard and Garrus, one leg draped over Shepard’s lap as his head leaned against Garrus’ shoulder. And Livia was curled up on Garrus’ free side. Hannah Shepard and Tavius Vakarian had left when the kids fell asleep, which had only been halfway through the movie. After a night of good food and wonderful family time, Shepard just didn’t have it in her to move as the credits rolled past.

“So...according to my _research_ , this clearly wasn’t a typical human Valentine’s Day, but it _was_ a good day,” Garrus said softly, reaching over the back of the couch to run his fingers through Shepard’s hair.

“Are you kidding? It was a perfect day. Best damn Valentine’s Day I’ve ever had,” she replied with the warmest smile she could muster.

“Ready to get these kids to bed?”

“I’m definitely ready to see what present I got for you in the mysterious blue box,” Shepard winked as she shifted Ashley into a cradle position and rose from the couch. Garrus followed close behind, Livia in one arm and Adam in the other. It really had been a perfect day. Valentine’s Day was not her favorite holiday - nor was it one she usually even thought of - but as Shepard looked over the sweet, sleeping faces of her three children who had worked so hard to make it a special day, she vowed to make this day a regular occurrence each Earth calendar year.

“They all love you,” Garrus whispered in her ear as he stood next to her in the kids’ doorway.

“They all love you, too,” she replied, turning to kiss him gently, but as soon as his leathery mouth plates touched hers, that electric feeling from earlier spread slowly from her mouth to her chest, creeping lower and lower until-

“So what’s in the blue box?” she asked, pulling away.

“Something for both of us,” Garrus huffed as he scooped Shepard up into his arms and carried her down the hall to their own bedroom.

“Is it blue?” Shepard asked, nuzzling her partner’s neck.

“Maybe,” Garrus sighed.

“Is it lacy?”

“Let’s just say...it will be a perfect way to end this human Valentine’s Day celebration.”

Shepard smiled and leaned into Garrus’ tight grip as they entered the bedroom.

“I think I can live with that. And Garrus?”

“Hmmm?” Garrus hummed as he locked the door behind them and pulled Shepard flush against his chest in a tight grip.

“Happy Valentine’s Day.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [DarkAislinn](http://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkAislinn) for beta-reading. Go read her stuff!


End file.
